UFT Retiree Chapter Update: Mulgrew Appears, Bennett Reports, Fix Retiree Benefits June 28 zoom, Unity Clan Smashes TRS Reso

It's primary day in NYC and lots of scrutiny on Mamdani supported candidates in 3 congressional races where he backs candidates closely or loosely connected to the Dem Socialists, but all pushing back against Dem party central. In every one of these, Mulgrew has led the UFT to support the other candidate, thus cementing the view that I always have had that the UFT is tied to the traditional corporate Dem wing and the Mamdani endorsement was an outlier due to Mamdani's sweeping support. Mulgrew lied and maneuvered the DA into supporting Dan Goldman, who is expected to lose to Brad Lander. One interesting thing I noticed was that Randi Weingarten's rabbi wife is backing Lander. Hmmm.

I never liked Espaillat and am glad he is being challenged but my instinct is he will win and the Mamdani push in that area may be an error. And his candidate against Reynoso who is backed by Nydia Velazquez is also tricky but I think Mamdani will win that one in the Commie corridor but his relationship with the more conservative- leaning Hispanic community will be harmed long-term.

I think the UFT is backing Alex Bores  - Mamdani voted in that district but is keeping his vote secret. I'm betting he voted for Nina Schwalbe,

The District 12 Candidate Nobody Is Talking About

She has no chance and I might have voted for her too but I hate Micah Lasher for too many reasons to cite here and would go for Bores in a rare agreement with the UFT. 

UFT backs Alex Bores in NY-12

I voted already for one candidate for the state assembly seat being vacated by the current holder who inherited the seat from her mom who still has a Queens county political job. Good riddance. The Dem machine is pushing its candidate which is more of the same, while I'm backing Mike Scala who has run before when I backed a more left Dem Soc candidate but Mike has moved a bit left and I've met him and contributed. Reality bite - the machine will win and then face a serious MAGA challenge. Remember, corp Dem supreme Greg Meeks is the local congressman - and it is here where I expect a serious challenge from the Dem Soc left to come in two years, possibly from a great candidate, Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson, a major Mamdani supporter who I canvassed with. His was the only district in Rockaway that went for Mamdani.

Tonight will hold fascinating post-mortems. Sam Seder, my fave podcaster, dwelled deeply into the DSA move to reshape the Dem party and I tend to back any challenge to the corp wing which would also weaken the UFT leadership ties to that wing. 

June 23, 2026 

 

June 16 was the final meeting of the year of the UFT Retired Teacher Chapter and I started writing this piece that day. 

My last post was on June 4: UFT News and Views: RTC Ex Bd, TRS Election, Electronic Voting.

This is only the second blog I've done this month when in the past I used to do 3 a day.  

I had medical stuff going on the morning of the 16th with chemo at MSK and as usual had a great nurse who is from Memphis but moved to NYC in January and just loves it here. And she lives in Murray Hill nearby my apartment. She noticed my Knick shirt and said she is a convert from a Grizzly fan. That's the spirit. My Knicks shirt was getting lots of thumbs up.

Leaflets announcing the Fix Retiree Benefits June 28 Zoom were being handed out. I think a few hundred have registered already.

Fix Retiree Benefits consists of retirees that have felt they had no real voice in the world of Retiree Advocate, the group that fundamentally runs the RTC chapter. 

I'm impatient to get things done and I feel a campaign against Unity for the RTC needs to get organized sooner rather than later. I'll get more into the rationale behind FRB next time. At least 4 RTC Ex Bd members are working with Fix Retiree Benefits with others echoing silent support. Most of the others are elected delegates.

Take the survey.

Register to join  the Town Hall meeting Sunday, June 28th at 7PM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arthur was at the June 16 meeting and he has a detailed report, which I will excerpt and comment on.

• RTC Meeting--Michael Mulgrew Opposes Union Division (Unless He Creates It): Exception to every rule, Arthur Goldstein, Jun 16, 2026  

The UGLY

The good, the bad and the ugly of the meeting 

Bennett Fischer had already started his CL report, so I missed the beginning because I was getting eats.

The Not GOOD:

Overall, I saw a pattern repeated -- New Motions have been moved to the end of the meeting and since that was done, meetings have been adjourned before any New Motions can be gotten too. It is true that Unity had been using this time to make mom and apple pie resos and this was a ploy to shut that down, but is also precludes  internal people from making new motions which I have been known to do on a whim and which seems to bother the RTC leadership. 

I can remember being livid at Randi at one meeting for shutting down new motions and she called me into the hallway to apologize and I told her, "even Shanker never did that." People in charge, whether Unity at the DA or RA at the RTC meetings seem to fear the unknown new motion and look to control that space, which is not democratic. 

A lesson about the RA/RTC leadership - once you get into power, any criticism is very bothersome and the tendency to put up roadblocks is hard to resist. Not new boss same as old boss but a warning sign.

Bennett has his critics on how he runs the meetings. At times he seems confused. Someone I know who taught at his school when he was CL finds it hard to believe as he was a very effective CL, but dealing with meetings like these are way different than chapter meetings. 

I can only think of how Tom Murphy (or Tom Pappas before him) ran meetings when Unity was in control see things as relative. 

Right now give me a choice of Bennett and anyone in Unity and I take Bennett.

Bennett's reports don't go on as long as Mulgrew's and he takes questions. Critics need to think about managing a meeting of 300 live and a thousand online and have a bit of rachmones. But criticism on time management are legit. 

The UGLY

Mulgrew also made a report at this meeting and seemed in such good cheer and comfortable with his lies, which I will let Arthur expound on. Mulgrew also took some questions. (A few months ago Mulgrew ordered Bennett to give him time at our meeting and the RTC EB were outraged as Mulgrew took time from our business. I was one of the crazies who said we should ban Mulgrew from meetings or turn our backs but I guess I don't live in the real world.)

We had committee reports and Good and Welfare where anyone can say what they want and we were beyond 2:30, before we got to the regular order of business, with a 3PM automatic adjournment. 

The GOOD: 

Bennett Fischer's report was the strongest in two years challenging the UFT leadership over various issue and he received good grades even from critics because there had been a feeling he was being too light on the leadership in the past. 

NOTE: RA is dominated by members of New Action, which had a 12-year deal with Unity. Bennett was never part of New Action and does not have that type of mentality but he has worked at the UFT in the past and does have certain relationships with leadership, not necessarily a bad thing but also not always a good thing. 

Some people are very angry at Bennett but even they praised his approach. I think Bennett senses the critics and his comments were strong. No matter our differences so far, I am not one of the people who feel he should be replaced, at least if we manage to put a common slate together, though the winds blowing from the RA direction are not a good sign. Bennett can play a role in bringing everyone together but is he so deep in the RA machine he can't escape?

RTC EB Elects 11 replacement delegates, rejected by UFT membership 

I was glad Bennett raised this point in a strong manner.

Arthur reports: 

Bennett mentions RTC delegate election. Following process in RTC constitution, UFT bosses chose not to seat delegates. Bennett says Carl Cambria explained decision to him. Appealed decision to UFT Exec Board.  

David Pecoraro to Mulgrew—Our CL spoke of Exec Board meeting holding election in accordance with article 8 of UFT and RTC constitution. Will you uphold ruling of Weingarten that this procedure followed previously can go forth. No taxation without representation.

Mulgrew—Since I just found out about this, will go to exec board and check. What’s in rules? If rules are there, I will make my voice heard at exec board. Didn’t know there was an issue. If rules are followed…

What a load of horseshit that Mulgrew just found out about this - a reminder of how Trump fakes things. Mulgrew has his finger in every pot. I'm glad Dave Pecoraro, who was thrown out of Unity years ago, put him on the spot.

I know it would have been impolite if Bennett expressed this thought, but someone should have over this blatant lie. 

I had been hectoring Bennett for well over a year to raise the issue of replacing delegates who had resigned or passed away so we could get our full complement of 300. Recently we went through the two month process and elected 11 delegates, including the recently retired Amy Arundell (I bet the leadership would not be happy to see Amy at the DA). The RTC constitution says the RTC Ex Bd can replace elected officials and we had already replaced an officer and a few Ex Bd but the membership dept ruled that we had no right to replace delegates and pointed out how school chapters hold an election to replace delegates. Now being consistent, if the EB can't do it then there must be an election in the 70k member chapter, a nightmare of sorts to mail out ballots - unless they did it by electronic voting, which was recently rejected by a special committee, including the ARISE reps, siding with Unity. Allowing the elected EB to do it would save enormous time and money but Unity doesn't want us to replace delegates and so we will never see an election. Look for the RTC leadership to drop the issue after their appeal to the UFT Ex Bd is rejected. 

The Semi-BAD from Arthur

Bennett announces all meetings will be Tuesday. Evidently the decision to vary times has not resulted in increased attendance. He has not consulted the Exec. Board about this, which makes me wonder exactly who made the decision. Nor were we consulted about the changing times this year.

I can live with not being involved in deciding meeting dates though the survey might have benefited from a wider input, but the RTC powers that be may be increasingly resistant to voices outside the Retiree Advocate circle.

Bennett and his advisors have made unilateral decisions that leave the RTC Exec Bd out, a dangerous trend toward lack of transparency that might explain the rise of critics. 

The RTC constitution states that any member may attend an EB meeting but they are never announced. Even when we had openings on the EB, only insiders knew about them.  

The GOOD and BAD from Arthur:

Bennett announces a survey. Ironically, after the decision was made, our input is desired.  

I started paying attention as Bennett put up a QR code for those in the room to take the survey. What of the people at home? They tell the people at home to go to a web site. This survey needs to be sent out to all RTC members though the CL email, but will the UFT hierarchy allow it? I finally get a look at the survey in detail a few days later.

There are a bunch of questions on attendance at meetings. It seems the results might have informed a decision on when meetings should be held. 

The UGLY: The RA Pizzitola Purge Continues

There is a question on survey about the speakers and programs at RTC meetings. Since Marianne Pizzitola was our very first speaker at our first meeting in Oct. 2025, I looked for her name. 

Her name was not there. 

Is this an oops, or intentional? Go to Kalshi and bet. A major sticking point between FRB and RA is Marianne, as RA tries to forget it was her backing that played a major role in our victory two years ago and is pissed she backed ABC in the UFT election helping lead ABC to a 3-1 margin over ARISE.

But it's not a bad Survey . It ends with:

Ideas and comments you would like to share with the RTC Leadership Team, Additional questions for the Retired Teachers Chapter Leadership Team.

My questions would be exactly who constitutes the RTC Leadership Team? One would expect the officers and Exec Bd but Arthur is an officer and none of the 15 member EB I have been in touch with knew about the survey before it was released at the RTC meeting.  

The GOOD: 

At the June 2 RTC EB meeting Bennett brought a reso calling for retirees to vote in TRS elections and I suggested he add that retirees can also run in TRS elections and this reso was the sole item on the regular order of business. Also note that RA, NAC and MORE - the ARISE coalition, sat out the TRS election, which helped Unity. Just sayin'.

Unity hack Peter Goodman kills reso on retirees running in UFT elections with nefarious intentions

Arthur: The UGLY

Today we managed to table not one, but two resolutions. One resolved to allow retirees to vote on trustees. A Unity member objected. Unity is very happy with TRS elections, and doesn’t want us uppity retirees to have a voice. We don’t, in fact, need a constitutional convention to change this. For example, we passed an equal rights amendment to the NY State Constitution back in 2024, without affecting pensions.

The objection was utter nonsense, another page in Unity’s perpetual quest to make sure we get nothing done. 

Unity’s Peter Goodman whipped out an appeal to fear, making the outlandish assertion that if we were to seek the right for retirees to vote in trustee elections, it would entail opening up the NY State Constitution, and possibly tampering with our pensions.

I voted no to tabling, but Goodman stoked enough fear to stop the resolution. Trustees are elected to work for city, not state pensions. I didn’t think of that at the time, but I knew that even if it were statewide, parts the constitution are changed via voting, like our Equal Rights Amendment. 

Vote on motion to table—Y 778 n 90 y 145 n 48 87%

That the tabling reso won overwhelmingly, as Unity initiatives have increasingly been winning this year, is a clear sign of Unity increasingly gaining support in their plan to retake the chapter in next year's election, with no real response from the RTC leadership, one more good reason for everyone to get together to keep Unity from retaking the chapter and giving Mulgrew free reign to savage our healthcare.

 The fact is - and I would have pointed this out if the meeting had not run out of time - is that with the RTC still up for grabs next year with what looks like a 50-50 split, allowing retirees to vote in TRS elections would threaten Unity control of the 3 TRS reps and Goodman was using scare tactics to stop this reso, which won't come up again until our next meeting in October. 

After the meeting ended I went across the street for coffee with a few Fix Retirement Benefits colleagues to hash what happened over. 

---- 

A few more Arthur tidbits: 

Whopper of the Day—Michael Mulgrew opposes union division. This is a man who said, in my presence, that those who questioned him spouted “fairy tales,” and “make everything a conspiracy.” We can’t “handle the facts.”

Mulgrew then told us he appreciates people coming here, and loves when they’re here. (Doubtless that’s why he provides us with only ten minutes to share during the meeting.) There’s always a but, though. I often recall a Shakespeare teacher I had in college who told us, “Whenever anyone says but, you may disregard whatever precedes it.” And here comes the important part:

Mulgrew then said if we didn’t agree, and attacked “each other,” we were just as guilty as the people who attack us from the outside. He repeatedly compared those of us who disagreed with him to our enemies. Who am I? Am I Eva Moskowitz? Michael Bloomberg?

LeRoy Barr followed this up by urging people to “shun” dissenting voices. All due respect, this man has a lot of gall to lecture us on our behavior.

Sometimes, like today, he politely tells us to sit down and shut up. Other times, he is not so careful.

Mulgrew also said the worst thing would be to pit retirees against in-service members. This was also curious. Mulgrew himself told in service members if we did not vote to change 12-126 to enable charges for Medicare, we would have to pay $1500 premiums. If that isn’t pitting in-service against retirees, I don’t know what is.

Mulgrew also said we should “shut newspaper reporters up,” and referred to the Unity-dominated Delegate Assembly as the “silent majority.”

Shades of Trump and Nixon. Our union leader, who arbitrarily and capriciously fires any UFT employee who dares question him, ought not to be lecturing us on decorum. 

Sean Ahern—Moves RTC hold a debate with reps from both sides on NYHA and 1096. Major issues.

B—Haven’t we had conferences for this? Motion is to have a debate with people on both sides of issues, You can’t vote for me to do something. Not saying I wouldn’t but out of order that I host.

Point ot info—Carmen Alvarez—Don’t believe this is in order. Not clear what it wants to do. Structure for resolution not met. Table until something is clearer.

B—moves to table—

online y—615 n 170 r 107 n 28 78%

Resolution tabled indefinitely,

Read his entire notes: 

RTC Meeting--Michael Mulgrew Opposes Union Division (Unless He Creates It): Exception to every rule, Arthur Goldstein, Jun 16, 2026  

UFT News and Views: RTC Ex Bd, TRS Election, Electronic Voting

Thursday, June 4, 2026

 

Busy days here at Ed Notes central. I was at the RTC Exec Bd meeting on Tuesday and following the TRS election and also talking to people in the UFT about the Mulgrew assault on competence to insure personal loyalty in the union, along with firings and threats of any hint of independent voices.

 

I'm back on chemo and had my second treatment yesterday - I'm on an every 2 week schedule. I even took my computer and worked on this item while I was there for a few hours and walking back to my apartment passed a street fair on E. 46 and look what I found: 

 

I came back to Rockaway in the afternoon and want to get this out so I can go outside and do some yard work. The steroids are still working and I'm hoping to have energy to video The Crucible at Rockaway Theatre Company tonight. I saw part of it the other night.

 

TRS Election

I've seen preliminary results of the TRS election but DOE has to release final totals. I can say Tom Brown won, David Kazansky finished second, showing some organizing muscle. Analyzing the results will be a fun thing to do and I have a lot more to report after talking to many people. The legacy caucuses in the ARISE coalition mostly sat out the election, except for some individuals. 

 

Unity/ARISE Reps Reject electronic voting

As for electronic voting, the bogus committee formed when I, as a member of the election committee in 2025, called for electronic voting, was turned down in exchange for a bogus committee, which I declared bullshit early on, predicting they would find ways to reject electronic voting, which is exactly what happened. The surprise was the two ARISE reps voting with Unity. The ABC reps put out a must read report that tears apart every Unity argument.

...many of the challenges associated with current methods, lost ballots, outdated addresses, inconsistent administration, chain-of-custody concerns, are exactly the kinds of problems modern electronic systems are designed to reduce. Secure platforms can incorporate verification, encryption, audit logs, and protections against duplicate voting in ways that strengthen accountability and transparency. But we didn’t seriously examine whether those tools could improve the process. Instead, the ARISE/Unity majority recommendation assumes that older methods are more reliable simply because they are more familiar. 

  UFT Election Task Force Minority Report..  

A Better Contract Jun 01, 2026

BTW, Unity had 10 members, ARISE 2 and ABC 3. You know, fair. 

 

Unity is now bragging they led the way on electronic voting - by saying no -- and by the way were joined in saying now by reps from the ARISE group - MORE and New Action/RA. These groups had supported our initiatives in 2022 and 2025.

 

I wrote on Nov. 28, 2024: UFT Election Committee

I pushed hard for an electronic voting option but naturally there are loads of roadblocks. This time they came up with the constitution wrinkle - some language in the constitution that says you have to use written ballots. Christina Gavin pointed out that written can also mean electronic.

Anyway, I pointed out the low vote totals for previous elections and handed out the ugly story on a chart. Like less than 20% of actives voted while 40% of retirees votes. After all the reasons we couldn't do electronic voting were pointed out I said I had raised this same reso 3 years ago and they promised to look into the issue but did nothing so we are back to ground zero.

 

I also pointed out that in previous elections the leadership could count on the retiree vote to carry them through, now with that vote in potential jeopardy, the leadership should want very much to increase in-service vote for their own protection. But don't expect any creative ideas to come from the moribund leadership. They looked like turtles turned on their backs. 

The best they could come up with was Queens District Rep James Vasquez with a reso to form a task force to "study" the issue. He also placed blame on the oppo people over the past 3 years for not bringing up the issue during that time. Duhhhh, James -- we know you guys never want electronic voting and you will forget all about your task force.

But Vasquez did not lose the opportunity to put out a dumb blog post attacking the opposition and blaming them for his own party's failures. That attack can be termed, "I'm scared shit we will lose and I will have to go back to the classroom and teach a full load instead of my one or two periods a day - and lose my second pension." 

Sure, Unity led the way on electronic voting -- right over the cliff.

 

Arthur reported on the process as reported on ABC:

They met only three times and closed the book on facing the issue. They didn’t bother to study the processes of other unions that used electronic voting successfully, let alone why so few of us vote. This looks like nothing more than a setup with a clear, predetermined outcome. Apathy is Unity’s best friend, and they won’t risk giving the 72% of members who don’t vote a voice.

Instead, Unity bosses will enable live voting only in Unity strongholds, where their paid patronage cult members can tacitly remind folks where and how to vote. Most disappointing is that the two ARISE members on the committee, MORE’s Olivia Swisher and Retiree Advocate’s Michael Shulman, voted with Unity. Shulman is also a leader of New Action, which has been pushing electronic voting for a decade or more. What happened? You’d have to ask him.

Only ABC members Chad Hamilton, Daniel Alicea and Katie Anskat voted no on Unity’s restrictive voting plan.  

 

RTC Exec Bd Meeting 

Yesterday I attended the RTC Exec Bd meeting. There are 25 people on the RTC EB and that includes the 10 officers. There are no Unity reps because RTC elections are winner take all - 25 EB and 300 delegates. Retiree Advocate, now an official caucus with $50 dues structure and a 15 member steering or organizing committee won that election in an alliance with Marianne Pizzitola. It was a great partnership. Shutting off the former 300 Unity delegates who gave Unity absolute dominance of the DA was a major outcome. Over the past year and a half that alliance has frayed which has made Unity bold with hope they can retake the chapter in next year's election. 

 

 

RTC replaces delegates as per its constitution 

Bennett Fischer, RTC CL:

The results are in from the RTC executive board vote to fill RTC delegate vacancies. There were 21 people running for 11 spots. The 11 winners are: Renee C. Airhuoyo, Jocelyn Brathwaite, Michael Broucum, Laura Calamuci, Chris Griffin, Peter Matsoukas, Sonia Silva, Carolyn Tacey, Linda Weissman, Hazel Fershleiser, and Amy Arundell. We will submit your names to the union for certification.

And therein lies a story. RA recruited 300 delegates to run with us two years ago and we wiped out Unity. I recruited about 30 people to run with us, including a former colleague who doesn't live in NYC. Unfortunately he came down with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and died in March 2025 but we know in October 2024 he wasn't interested in the DA and I notified people we needed to replace him, along with a few others I recruited who wanted to drop out and only ran as a favor to me because they never thought they would win.

Apparently some people at the UFT were telling Bennett we did not have the right to replace delegates even though former Unity delegates told us former RTC leader Tom Murphy just did it when there was a vacancy without even bothering to follow the RTC constitution which explicitly says the RTC Ex Bd nominates and votes on replacing elected positions. 

Only in the last few months has the RTC leadership gotten more aggressive on this issue. Not always transparent (the constitution says any RTC member may attend Ex Bd meetings but Bennett never announces that or sends out a link other than those who are aware), this time Bennett made an announcement at the RTC meeting and there were 21 candidates, including a few from Unity, one of whom I actually voted for, though I had nominated LeRoy Barr who told me if I did he'd buy me a drink but he declined the nomination - but still owes me a drink. 

Note that Amy Arundell did squeak into the final position (there was rank choice voting, indicating a level of hostility to her from the many ARISE connected RTC EB members. She should have been a slam dunk but the level of mistrust still reigns almost a year after the UFT election. In my opinion, the only way the Mulgrew administration continues to survive is due to this mistrust. Witness the story above about how ARISE voted with Unity. If Mulgrew was smart like Randi (which he isn't) he'd offer to work out a joint slate with ARISE in the next election. After all two of the 3 caucuses had a 12 year arrangement with Randi. (And by the way, Mulgrew broke that arrangement that helped Unity keep control of the high schools within 5 years of taking over --- see my recent blog on the level of incompetency - Mulgrewism is the UFT Version of Trumpism MAGA.

Bennett was not 100% this would be a slam dunk. Imagine if Unity refused to seat our democratically elected delegates, like the Mississippi delegation at the 1968 Democratic convention. I know the RTC leadership doesn't have the guts, but if we can get at least 50-100 people there to demand our delegates get seated and then walk out en masse if they don't. Good luck with that. And I say that in reference to the following item.

Arthur had a reso calling for us not to have to pay $180 a month for a prescription drug plan that included a petition some of us have been circulating that already has 6k signatures. 

The RTC Exec Bd supported the reso but there was push back on the petition, which has ties to ABC and you could sense the hostility from some of the leading lights with questions like "who is this going to?" and concerns over how the petition would be used. 

I'll let Arthur tell you about it.

RTC Chapter Leader Bennett Fischer moved my resolution, demanding the UFT pay for our prescription premiums, up to number one on our agenda. I was pretty happy about that, and I’ve posted it below. It’s a mixed victory though, as the RA folks all voted to drop the second resolved, decoupling it from our online petition that’s already garnered over six thousand signatures.

This is a botched opportunity to build on a solid foundation and reach further.

It’s outlandish to leave six thousand signatures on the table.

Retiree Advocate is repeating an error they made early on. When we were first elected, they willingly surrendered the official UFT Retiree page, which had 6,000 followers, to a Unity Patronage Cult Member. After two years, they haven’t managed to recruit half that number. In failing to link to our petition, they toss away 6,000 signatures we’ve collected.

ABC is all about organizing. In September, we will take that petition into school buildings and build on it. No one in service wants to pay these exorbitant premiums. Members will read it and say oh HELL no.

It will be good to pass the resolution, but the RTC action that comes along with it, I’m afraid, could be as lackluster as that for 1096.

There were several rationales offered. Bennett said when he first saw it he thought it may have been created by teenagers who wanted to make trouble. It wasn’t my turn to speak. I really wanted to say I’m not a teenager, but yes I want to make trouble. Making trouble, you know, is how you get stuff done.

If you don’t believe me, ask Marianne Pizzitola, without whom we’d all have an inferior Medicare “Advantage” plan right now.

Several people asked who wrote the petition. I kept raising my hand to show I did, and it took a while before people understood.  

Another objection was you can’t put a “hot link” on a resolution. Several people seemed to agree, but I was not among them. Better to start with 6,000 than zero. What could they be thinking?

RTC has not been great with petitions. When I tried to have them start a petition in support of 1096, the RTC Executive Board voted to “table” the suggestion. That’s a polite way of saying we are doing nothing, and indeed, aside from one strongly worded letter, mostly written by me, we have done nothing.

The comment about not putting links in a reso drove me wild because the link is an organizing tool and their mentality seems to be to lobby at the top - send strongly worded letters to Mulgrew - and not organize at the bottom. A reso that goes nowhere seems to satisfy them while many of us think a reso without an action component is a form of pounding your chest.  

End Winner Take All - Install a Proportional rep

Back in the 70s when we raised proportional representation as an alt to winner take all, Unity hacks (and Shanker) would say that's how Hitler came to power. Allowing space for a variety of viewpoints and giving people a voice leads directly to Hitler. Sure. Proportional representation is a version of the parliamentary system. If there are a 100 positions you portion them out to each group running based on their percentage. It's not all that simple but worth exploring. We all say when we run for UFT elections that if we were in power we would democratize the union but as we've seen with RTC, once you smell the roses of power, changing things to share with a group like Unity takes some of that nice smell away.

 

As oppo people we always opposed the winner take all approach and when we were winning 30% of the vote we felt we should one third of the delegates, the officers and the exec bd. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, we are in the drivers seat and it makes meetings like we just had easier without Unity attempts to undermine any initiative that counters the Mulgrew line. Unity people are free to attend the monthly RTC meetings and they have boldly tried to undermine any hint of variance from Unity orthodoxy. To distract the chapter from issues like protecting our healthcare or eliminating co-pays or relieving us of the over-expensive prescription drug plan they bring up resos on fair housing or protecting social security -- duhhhhh! Like just passing their reso will accomplish something.

 

Bennett has been fairly tolerant to Unity, even bending over backward to be fair and not act like Tom Murphy did. That extends to criticizing those of us who go on the attack against Unity playing games (Kumbaya - we are all union members). After all, the Unity goal is to get us out of office and go back to their own dictatorial running of the chapter. The Unity crew had asked to have their fair housing reso put on the main agenda so they wouldn't have to try for the new motion period -- oh how beautiful to see them whining while Mulgrew does the same thing to the oppo by filling the new motion period with mom and apple pie resos from the leadership. RTC EB discussed it, with Bennett and a few other voting to put their reso on the agenda but there were objections from people who wanted to amend their motion, with the result that they decided to write their own version and we did and voted to put that one on the main agenda. 

 

This seemed to outrage the Unity crowd. Like how dare we act like Mulgrew? To add insult, I spoke at the May RTC meeting and added a little wrinkle that I knew would enrage them further. To make housing more affordable, my amendment called for abolishing co-pays. Now you'd think I'd tossed a stink bomb. They demanded to have a speaker opposed after the question was called and Bennett didn't recognize them - which I felt was a mistake - let Unity make the case for co-pays (I say this as I am getting chemo and will be billed for a co-pay.)

 

Our platform called for some system of proportional rep - ending winner take all - and we have a constitution we can amend - and I'm sure the UFT leadership would put obstacles in the way since they expect to take back the chapter in next year's election. I should point out that in the 2021 election we asked the Unity people to give us 5 out of the 300 delegates so our 30% voters get some representation. They said NO. But I'm more generous. At the vote count in June 2024 when I watched the Unity people look crushed, I told one of their leaders if they had prop rep their 37% they would have gotten over 100 delegates. He gave me a sour look.

 

Since we won I have pushed our new RTC leadership - of which I am one (sort of) - to change the constitution to allow for prop rep but it didn't seem to be a priority - some seem to think they will win again next year. I think we are in a 50/50 split with Unity at this point - as long as we have Marianne with us, and given the RA crowd hostility to her, that is not a sure bet. 

 

Bennett did mention taking a look at this as a project for next year. With it being an election year and so much going on, it is unlikely that the process would be complete by the time the election takes place, especially since Unity would try to stop it - unless all retirees get together and remake the alliance with Marianne Pizzitola, at which point Unity might see they might lose and take a half loaf.

 

Stop Fraud. Not Dissent.

URGENT CALL TO ACTION: Tell Albany to Protect Union Democracy

A bill moving rapidly through the New York Legislature—Senate Bill S.9577-A, sponsored by Senator Jessica Ramos, and Assembly Bill A.10835-A, sponsored by Assemblymember Judy Griffin—is being promoted as a measure to stop fraudulent communications that falsely claim to represent labor unions and their representatives.

As detailed in The Wire’s investigation, the concern is not hypothetical.

In recent years, disputes have emerged involving UFTMembers.org, an independent publication critical of UFT union leadership. Other controversies have involved parody, satire, and internal political disputes within labor organizations. Reform caucuses and member advocacy groups routinely use union names to identify the members they represent. Independent newsletters, blogs, podcasts, and election campaigns frequently discuss union leadership, governance, elections, and policy decisions.

Those activities are not fraud.

They are part of union democracy.

Yet the legislation currently contains no explicit protections making clear that criticism, reform advocacy, parody, election-related communications, and internal organizing remain protected.

Read URGENT CALL and sign petition to amend the law.

Sign the Petition & Contact Legislators

👉 unionvoices.educators.nyc

Read Our Full Investigation

👉 thewire.educators.nyc/p/new-yorks-union-communications-bill

Stop Fraud. Not Dissent.

 

This bill smells to me - Unity etc and other union leadership are trying to brand internal critics as outside agitators, the classic manner of dictatorships. Remember how civil rights workers were branded as outside agitators. Our crew behind this amendment has had great outreach to explain it all.

 

Here is a link to Arthur's report of the RTC Ex Bd meeting and his petition.

Bits and Pieces: The good, the bad, and the absurd

Arthur Goldstein

Jun 03, 2026

UFT Welfare Fund Should Pay for Retiree Prescription Premiums

Whereas, UFT retirees are on fixed incomes, and,

Whereas, $180 per month is a high premium, and,

Whereas, many UFT retirees pay for other family members as well, and

Whereas, this rate went up a whopping 50% over a two-year period, and,

Whereas, this is a hardship on many UFT retirees, and

Whereas, other union Welfare Funds, including those of FDNY, NYPD and DC37 cover prescription premium costs for members, and

Whereas, UFT officers frequently mention “premium-free health insurance,” and,

Whereas, UFT officers speak of our Welfare Fund as the best in the country, be it therefore,

Resolved, that our Welfare Fund must cover retirees just as other Welfare Funds do, and be it further,

Resolved, that we actively support and encourage signing of the petition at https://stopchargingretirees.org/ demanding UFT Welfare Fund cover the costs of pharmacy insurance premiums for retired members.

At the suggestion of RTC Exec. Board member Alan Stein, who pointed out members get $900 back, I proposed the following addition:

Whereas this costs members a net $2160 a year, or members with spouses 4320 a year,

 

Mulgrewism is the UFT Version of Trumpism MAGA

Here is a follow-up to my recent comments on the TRS election.

TRS Election Count - 

  

Saturday. May 30, 2026

 

The more I delve into the inner workings of Unity Caucus, the more Trump-like actions emerge. Absolute loyalty is required. John Cornyn is only 99% supportive. Gone. David Kozansky and Ashley Rzonca were considered loyal enough to run and win on the Unity Exec Bd slate. Gone.

 

While we all see the Trump admin as a disaster, many see Mulgrew's 17 year tenure of the UFT as at the very least, a semi-disaster. Yet watch as henchpeople of both Trump and Mulgrew rush to praise them endlessly and claim it is the best of times while vilifying their critics.  

 

Trump is ruining the Republican Party by making it about loyalty to him, not the party and Mulgrew is ruining the Unity Caucus by making it about loyalty to him. Again, witness the firings of D. 30 rep Ashley Rzonca for not denouncing her friend and mentor Amy Arundell plus para rep Hector Ruiz Jr.  and David Kazansky. To show you how crazy and weird the Unity operation, Ashley and Hector were elected to the UFT Ex Bd on the Unity slate and David as an NYSUT and AFT delegate. Do you think that Ashley's long-time work as a DR in that district hasn't inspired loyalty from CLs and rank and file teachers, which we say in their demonstrations?

District 30 CLs Boycott UFT CL Training, Inside Un...

More Mulgrew Purges as District 30 Parents, Teache...

  

Similarities don't end as Trump's actions build an enormous opposition to him and Mulgrew helps broaden the base of the usual opposition to Unity by adding Unity refugees (witness Unity's lowest total ever 54% in the last election) and independents who used to shun the legacy op caucuses but are open to new groups that contain Unity refugees like ABC. From internal sources there are still a lot of resentful and pissed off Unity people, but they are frightened. Frightened over losing their job for hanging out with the wrong people is like water getting into rocks and freezing in winter and widening the cracks. Eventually the rocks break. 

I wrote about how Mulgrew met his goal of total control of the pension dept, one of the most respected areas of the UFT and an essential area to be well-run and free of politics for every UFT member who one day hopes to retire. If members are concerned that pension reps are chosen on the grounds of loyalty to Mulgrew instead of their level of competency, they may end up paying hundreds of dollars for private pension consultations. Already people have told me they are choosing that option. 

 

Look at the process I described about the formerly semi-autonomous pension dept. in my previous post:  

TRS Election Count 

- and the one before that: TRS Election Pre-Outcome Analysis 

 

One long-time Unity high level operative said: 

Mulgrew did the same thing with Teacher Center. In the old days, the teacher center budget was kept separate and very apart from the UFT. Some tension there. Once Evelyn DeJesus (who was promoted to AFT and is now second to Randi) and current VP Mary Vocarro got the reins, things changed. I believe Dave Hickey and Mulgrew now have their hands on those dollars. Same with the Welfare Fund that was long-time head Artie Pepper’s domain. Then Geoff Sorkin was made director (in name only).

Look through the dredges of why Mulgrew opposes the NYHealth Act --he's lose control of the Welfare Fund which would no longer be necessary. Have you noticed there was a big surplus there? How is it being used? They do worry about exposure. A few years ago when oppo people exposed this surplus and the poor dental plan, some minor improvements were made.

And don't forget dumping the old response system to calls for salesforce.

UFT Outsourcing to Salesforce Update - Workers sue UFT over being replaced by Salesforce as they slam Mulgrew - Jan. 6, 2022

Mulgrew and Bari Weiss, separated at birth? Insecure people at the top have a need for total control. And those not viewed as loyal enough, are fired. Leaders feel they have to put their mark even on successful operations. Bari Weiss is a Trump installment.

 

A recent article in the NYT: 

“60 Minutes” has a long tradition of autonomy within CBS News, a source of tension for generations of network executives. The show, which debuted in 1968, is still the country’s highest-rated television newsweekly, and its viewership this season was up 9 percent from the year before, according to Nielsen. Sharyn Alfonsi, whose segment on a brutal Salvadoran prison was pulled abruptly in December, said that CBS News and its top editor, Bari Weiss, had let her contract expire. Ms. Weiss, an opinion journalist whose tenure has drawn enormous scrutiny, is readying a significant shake-up at “60 Minutes,” her network’s flagship news series. The fate of Tanya Simon, the program’s executive producer, is also unclear. Ms. Weiss is considering hiring an outside journalist to oversee or work alongside Ms. Simon. Her other signature initiative, the remaking of “CBS Evening News,” has suffered from low viewership and some embarrassing errors.

People in charge resent leaders of semi-independent groups, often run by strong figures that transcend changes at the top. 

 

In my research on the TRS elections even an old dog like me can learn something. Patterns of Mulgrew attempts to gain total control - politicizing what were semi-autonomous operations - meaning his loyalists in charge - emerged as long-time Unity contacts filled me in. 

 

Now as an outsider tracking Unity for the past 56 years, I assumed Unity was pretty monolithic but according to old-timers, Shanker and Feldman, once they found someone who could to the job, pretty much trusted them to pick, yes people loyal to the caucus, but also competent. And on the whole, members felt at least the union was competently run even by those who disagreed with the political direction. I can only remember one guy who was fired - for engaging in a sexual encounter at a NYSUT convention at the NY Hilton.

This brought to mind that soon after his first election in 2010 (after a year serving as Randi's replacement) Mulgrew took control of the NY Teacher operation:

Mulgrew Does the Purge: The Jim Callaghan Firing a...

UFT Firing of NY Teacher Reporter Jim Callaghan

 

Dots are getting connected in this old brain as I see how cracks in Unity have begun to emerge, cracks I've been waiting for over decades. BTW -- when Randi took control in the late 90s there was loads of resentment from the old-time warriors from the 60s's who had gone on 4 strikes and looked at Randi as an interloper.

 

Randi came out of nowhere in the mid-late 80s with no history of building the union and they put the recently deceased strongman Tom Pappas as her top lieutenant to coral the troops. Randi was so insecure she even reached out to me for some support and I, naively, thought there was a chance to reach a more progressive wing of Unity. No dice. It took me 3 years to realize it.

Randi began to make personal loyalty a factor in running the UFT. When there were multiple competent people to replace her (it was a no-brainer she was going to the AFT once Feldman came down with cancer) as UFT president, she plucked Mulgrew out of obscurity. How would the UFT had looked with universally respected Michelle Bodden as the leader? 

  

Mulgrew rose as Bodden faded as Randi's successor and she seemed too independent and smart to serve under him. It's worth sharing what I wrote then considering the unhappiness with him:

June 2008 - Michelle Bodden to Resign as UFT VP

As reported in an ednotes online exclusive, Michelle Bodden, who many people were betting would be Randi Weingarten's successor as UFT President, will take over the UFT's troubled elementary charter school.

We raised the question as to whether a UFT VP for elementary schools could be in that position. Now we have been informed that she has sent a letter telling people she will be resigning her VP position. (Will she also be resigning from Unity Caucus?)

The signs have been there for a long time (I saw signs in 2003) that Bodden was not in the running and I had to convince even people inside 52 Broadway that she would never head the UFT. Perhaps she was getting too popular. "She's really an educator," said one insider. "Not a politician like Randi. You can actually have a conversation with her about real things. Some people can't wait for Randi to be gone so we can start solving the real problems we face."

I won't go into the details, but long-time observers can tell a lot about the UFT by who stands where, what kinds of events people get to represent the UFT at, and other signs. The surprise appointment of Leroy Barr as UFT Staff Director in January made it clear that another African-American had superseded Michelle in the UFT hierarchy.

Well, they ended up with the Mulgrew administration creating more problems than he solved. And the more political he made what was already a political operation, the more problems were created - Medicare Advantage, anyone? Retiree and para vote in 2024? 54% Unity vote in 2025?

 

Under Mulgrew, even more insecure than Randi (and half as smart politically and intellectually)  and over his tenure, resentments grew until things broke in 2023 with the removal of Amy as Queens Borough Rep which led to Amy Arundell running against him last year and getting some key Unity people to join her, some behind the scenes. Mulgrew's vengeance was to fire or try to intimidate any staffer who had been friendly with Amy with a bunch of firings coming in June 2025.

 

Now the reaction of loyal Mulgrew Unity hacks has been to attack their critics and even threaten them with some court action due to what they claim is bogus use of the UFT logo. Prime in their sights is the ABC group, made up in part of Unity defectors, who come under the heaviest attacks for leaving the cult.

 

In the "great minds think alike" category, Arthur has a similar piece this morning: 

 

Separated at Birth: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Arthur Goldstein

May 30, 2026

TRS Election Count - No Final Results Until June 2 - re-edited May 28

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

The TRS election in the schools was held two weeks ago and the vote count started at 65 Court St. on Tuesday and adjourned. Final results are not expected until June 2. With a massive campaign and enormous pressure Unity-endorsed Tom Brown is expected to win. How big a win is the question. 

From what I'm hearing, Tom Brown wanted to retire but Mulgrew pushed him to run once David Kazansky announced. Mulgrew never seemed to have much love for David and felt running an unknown against him was risky and felt Brown was their best chance despite his being 75 and wanting out. Are they just kicking the can down the road because within another year Brown may well retire and they will have to do this all over again, meaning there could be two TRS elections next year?

When all votes are counted, each candidate receives a tally for each school with a breakdown of how many votes each candidate got. This information, if used correctly, can provide maps of each candidate's strengths and weaknesses. This has scared the Unity faithful, especially at the district rep level into hustling votes for Brown and they rode herd over their chapter leaders, especially during the petition period when Brown came in with 30k. (Only 1k was needed.) So yes they have run a very effective campaign.

While some people lament the fact that there were two non-Unity candidates running I take the long view and see this in a positive light. The prime directive is ending the Unity monopoly of the UFT and bringing a voice independent from Mulgrew to the TRS. Both David and Frank had been Unity loyalists and were fired for no "obvious reasons" but we know David was fired due to having once been a friend of Amy Arundel and Frank because he was going to run for TRS. They both still have people loyal to them in the Unity ranks who secretly support them. Any school with a Unity CL that doesn't back Brown will pay a price.

New information has been flowing in response to my last blog TRS Election Pre-Outcome Analysis, info that exposes the toxicity at the top of the Unity and UFT hierarchy. I've tried to piece together the story from various insider accounts and will publish more inf as the blanks get filled in. Therein lies a tale of Mulgrew and crew taking more control over the pension and TRS, an area formerly dominated by old timers Mel Aaronson and Sandy March, a process of Mulgrew's maniacal need to control everything over the past 10 years as loyalty to the leadership took precedence over competence. This is part 1. 

Recent History of TRS Elections

• 2014 Tom Brown replaces Mona Romain who retires.
• 2015 David Kazansky replaces Mel Aaronson who retires and recruited David. Mel had been the guru of pensions (though still with a staff job)
• 2016 Debby Penny replaces Sandy March who retires. Penny is Mulgrew's agent in the pension department and was brought in to gain control. With strong figures like Mel and Sandy March gone Mulgrew gets his shot at a complete takeover of the pension and TRS.
• 2021 - David re-elected but not before Mulgrew attempted to remove him but Randi and Mel intervene. 
• c. 2022 Victoria Lee replaced Debby Penny - no election.
• 2023 - Tom Brown runs unopposed.  
• 2024 - David Kazansky removed and replaced by Christina McGrath who defeated Ben Morgenrath in first TRS election in 40 years. At the time McGrath and Victoria Lee are close. David is given an AFT pension job at 52 with salary paid by Randi.
• 2025 - Victoria Lee wins re-election based on challenging Ben Morgenroth's petitions and winning on a technicality.  Her next election will be in 2028.
• 2026 - Tom Brown who wanted to retire but is pressured to run after David Kazansky announces a run. A leading pension consultant Frank Panebianco also runs. Both he and Kazansky had been full-time UFT employees until fired in 2025.
• 2027 - Christina McGrath is scheduled but she and Victoria Lee do not get along and if Lee maintains her dominance, she will look to dump McGrath unless Mulgrew backs her.

For decades there was no a TRS election because of only one candidate and whoever was chosen by UFT leadership to "run" was anointed with no one opposing. This bothered me - and others. Why let Unity get away with an easy win? Make them work for this patronage job. Two years ago, Mulgrew pulled David Kazansky from TRS after 9 years and installed an unknown, Christina McGrath, who even within Unity, caused people to scratch their heads. Apparently she was a friend of Victoria Lee. Rumors were that David was not the yes-man Mulgrew wanted at TRS. (My follow-up post to this one will get into the ugly details.) 

NOTE: The legacy caucuses don't see it that way and fundementally ignore TRS elections, a big mistake and indicative of their "not running to win" attitude.  

An informal independent group of us organized an election campaign with Ben Morgenroth as a way to force an election. And we learned a hell of a lot about the process - a trial run for future elections.

Last year everyone was busy with the UFT election and didn't pay much attention to the TRS election, though Ben Morgenroth ran but had his petitions challenged on a technicality and Vicky Lee celebrated at a UFT pension dept meeting bragging about her successful challenge after finding Ben had made a mark at the bottom of his petitions and shouting, "I won. It doesn't make a difference how you win as long as you win." 

This year's election is the most complex ever, with 3 candidates.  

David Kazansky, former 9-year TRS member beginning in 2015, removed by Mulgrew in 2024 and fired from his UFT job in June 2025 due to having been friends with Amy Arundel, and now teaching at an elementary school in the Bronx.

Frank Panebianco, former 13 year full-time pension rep, fired in 2025, now teaching in the Bronx. 

 

Tom Brown, incumbent since 2014,endorsed by UFT leadership and Unity Caucus. Brown told numerous people he intended to retire and not run again and urged Panebianco to run before he was pulled back into running by Mulgrew once David Kazansky announced he was running.  

 

Teacher Retiree System reps are elected by in-service active members of the TRS, which includes PBS and the CSA and a few other unions, but the UFT makes up the largest contingent, thus getting all 3 reps in staggered 3 year terms.

 

TRS reps are a UFT patronage job and elections are a threat to their control. They seem fine with letting decisions be made by financial people with no questioning them. Apparently David schooled himself and asked questions which may have annoyed some people at the top.

 

What does TRS teacher rep job entail and how are they paid? That is not exactly clear. There is a meeting every third Thursday of the month at TRS HQ. Attending these meetings are their only requirement. We get no info about those meetings or what is discussed or what decisions are made.

 

Are they employees of the city, not the UFT? Yet why do they work out of 52 Broadway and are on the UFT payroll and they work UFT 10-6 hours instead of the city 9-5? Some go to the schools to do pension clinics. Some choose to stay around HQ. 

 

What are their obligations? The only one seems to be to attend Thursday meetings.

 

From the TRS Site

Usually meets at 3:30 p.m. on approximately every third Thursday in each month. Composed of seven members as follows: Chairperson, Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) and the Comptroller, Ex Officio; two members appointed by the Mayor, one a member of the Panel for Educational Policy; three members of the Teachers’ Retirement Association elected from the contributors for terms of three years. No salary. Chair selected by Board Members. 

Note it says no salary. What decisions can they allowed to make? Who knows? 

 

Many of the trustees on the retirement boards do not receive an additional salary. They receive their regular salary from their city employer. However, the 3 trustees receive additional money from the UFT.

 

These are all issues to ponder. Part 2 will get into more detail on how Mulgrew gained total control over pension and TRS matters,